Owners Jeryl Andrews and her husband Dan have been running the boutique for 28 years.[/caption]

Carrying an average of 350 different clothing lines, Animal Crackers has been a fashion mainstay in Plano for 28 years.

The boutique has always offered head-to-toe fashion for infants, young girls and boys, tweens and women. One of its best-selling categories today is clothing, shoes and accessories for tweens, a sign that the shop continues to evolve with the times, said Dan Andrews, who owns Animal Crackers with his wife, Jeryl.

"When we opened up, nothing was on the other three corners [of Preston and Park roads]," Dan said. "On the three parcels at this intersection, it was just the Preston Park Village shopping center. The rest was just open field and cattle it was like a wasteland."

From the very beginning, the Andrews knew that Plano would be a good market for growth due to the increased number of young adults who were moving to the area at the time.

"We knew that we wanted to be out here, and this particular shopping center was the furthest north thing that was going on at the time," Dan said.



"We started with children's clothes and have maintained [the section] the whole time," he said. "About 20 years ago, we added women's clothes and that has been really strong."

When the store opened, Dan said that fashion in the area was conservative and typically consisted of department store brands. "We were doing something really different, a little funkier," he said. "Pretty much anyone who is a celebrity in Dallas has shopped with us."

Football and basketball players are among some of Animal Crackers' clients, as well as Olympic gymnasts Carly Patterson and Nastia Liukin.

While Dan runs the business side of Animal Crackers, his wife stocks the store and has been recognized locally and nationally.

"Boots and fringe: That's where it's at."

According to Jeryl, fashion has been trending more casually for the last few years and that trend is now beginning to trickle down to the store's younger customers.

"Companies are making athletic wear more like normal street wear. Everyone is into a healthy lifestyle, and that has trended into teens wanting to be more sporty," Jeryl said. "Boots are still very popular—you can wear boots all year now. Boots and fringe: That's where it's at."

Dan did note that the face of business has changed drastically after nearly three decades in Plano.

"One of the things that we did was introduce our website early on to grow our online business," he said. "But, people still like the hands-on [experience], they still like to come in and touch and feel the product before they buy it."

Animal Crackers

1900 Preston Road, Ste. 260, 972-612-8187, <a href="https://www.animalcrackers.com ">www.animalcrackers.com

Hours: Mon.–Sat. 10 a.m.–6 p.m.